I'm a new customer (about 6 weeks) on the 25mbs unlimited plan and expected better service. It's very consistent on the first couple of minutes being very bad quality then it goes to an acceptable (for standard def) for awhile then intermittently get the really bad picture for some period of time. So far pretty disappointed, didn't notice the fine print saying best quality was 480p even though speed was 25mbs.

Stan, John above is correct. When you start to watch a netflix stream, they start you out at a low res. so the video starts to play faster and then the resolution will increase to what your internet speeds will support. And Satellite internet speeds can and do fluctuate a bit ( quit a lot ) so you will see the res. go up and down when streaming. Very normal. Your Silver Plan streams videos at about 1-1.5mbs.

Well my only other option where I live is a very slow AT&T DSL, so overall this is better but have had problems I didn't have with DSL such as the fluctuating Netflix quality and when streaming audio via Alexa there are very long pauses between songs and sometimes it just stops completely between songs and have to restart. But I can put up with those issues for a few years until 5G networks are fully deployed and can move to that.

Yep. I preload my Netflix to eliminate the buffering issue. If I didn't, I certainly wouldn't be able to watch in 1080p or without it buffering in Primetime. You can preload Netflix content on tablets, and there are some methods to preload Netflix using certain programs and tools, but it can be complicated.

Unfortunately, without preloading, you are going to be at the mercy of your connection speed, which can fluctuate specifically during Primetime.

That'd be a good starting point, if it's still a problem you can try letting it pre-load first or we can check other things like speed but I think with these unlimited plans that should be step 1 for buffering video

AUTO, AUTO, AUTO!!!! It will stream at the best resolution it can and when your speed drops during streaming, and it will, Auto will adjust so you should not have buffering. Also having things like Alexa in the mix is probably going to cause issues with a satellite internet.

Imho, using an ethernet connected media-streaming box, which has good buffering, might be a better setup. There can be intermittent satellite-based download pauses, so having a larger buffer may assist. If WiFi is used, a beamforming router, using 5 Ghz frequency, would be a better solution.

There are too many factors that go into 4K HDR buffering to say how much is attributable to the Roku Ultra, how much to the app and how much to the broadband connection. At the very least, the Roku Ultra has the capacity to buffer content very fast, and usually does.

Hence, a media-streaming box that can handle 4K might be a better option for sat users, if it has a decent buffer. If using a USB stick...read reviews, in regards to buffering.

Agreed. I think one of the reasons for the video resolution downgrader is Viasat knows they cannot support a consistent stream on many beams to support HD video. Therefore they lower the bar to eliminate the peaks and valleys that cause buffering. You then get a consistent picture, but at the cost of not getting HD resolution.

RE: "Viasat knows they cannot support a consistent stream on many beams to support HD video. <br>"
It's a hardware issue (aka traffic shaping), an Internet issue (source to point) and a playback issue. As the cite made clear,
<br>"There are too many factors that go into 4K HDR buffering to say how much is attributable to the Roku Ultra, how much to the app and how much to the broadband connection."<br>This happens on cable/FIOS/etc systems.
I've watched enough videos, and have observed what transpires. Video is not a constant stream, and end user's equipment must be able to catch "it all" when it comes, for best results, especially when traffic shaping is active. Needless to say, watching video during primetime may/will have interruptions.